What is the second primary emotion to appear?

What is the second primary emotion to appear?

• A. Happiness
• B. Fear
• C. Anger
• D. Surprise

Answer: (C)

Infants’ emotional life starts with basic, universal responses, with happiness appearing first as the social smile and pleasure from people and interactions. As babies grow and their goal-directed actions become more complex, they start to express anger when something they want is blocked or frustrated. This makes anger the next basic emotion to show up after happiness. Fear, which relates to unfamiliar people or threatening situations, tends to appear a bit later, as does surprise. So the sequence commonly seen is happiness first, then anger, which is why anger is the second primary emotion to appear.

Infants’ emotional life starts with basic, universal responses, with happiness appearing first as the social smile and pleasure from people and interactions. As babies grow and their goal-directed actions become more complex, they start to express anger when something they want is blocked or frustrated. This makes anger the next basic emotion to show up after happiness. Fear, which relates to unfamiliar people or threatening situations, tends to appear a bit later, as does surprise. So the sequence commonly seen is happiness first, then anger, which is why anger is the second primary emotion to appear.